She gives a little hop, her fingers digging into myribs.
“But before sunset, it gets the wreckingball.”
Her mood deflates as she rolls her eyes. “You’re such atease.”
“I learned from thebest.”
We share a warm laugh, and my fingers glide into her hair as I draw her closer to me. Skyla lays her head over my chest as we move slowly, carefully one last time over the very spot where we decided to enter into a sacred, albeit brief covenant of ourown.
“Your heart is beating,” she whispers, patting her fingers across mychest.
“It’s just showing off for you, Skyla. I’m stilldead.”
She shakes her head, sniffing back tears. “Not true. You’re here, beautiful and strong. You smell good, too.” She gives a gentle scratch over my chin. “Death is more or less an idea—a bad one, a good one. Who am I tosay?”
I press my lips to her forehead as I consider this. “It’s a mandatory regulation designed by the Master to cull the world of humans past their prime. It is the initiation of souls into the gathering of the ages—an ushering of spirits to the winnowing of the sheep and the goats, the white throne judgment for those itawaits.”
“Don’t we all await judgment?” The mood grows somber, as does the music, and her hips move slower, her voice edging just this side oftears.
“No.” I pull back and look at her like this, washed in the neon afterglow, the hair above her head lit up like a halo. “We’re forgiven. Past, present, and future sins wiped away as if they neverexisted.”
Her eyes latch to mine as we hold a hypnotic gaze. “Though they were like scarlet, they are washed white as snow.” Her finger bounces over my bottom lip with an aching grief. “Gage says he may not be able to control his heart. It’s his worst fear. It’s alsomine.”
A ragged sigh escapes me. “He’ll need us more thanever.”
She lays her head over my chest once again before looking back up abruptly. “Would you do something for me,Logan?”
The passion in her voice, the pleading look in her eyes, the pang of desperation exuding from her, it sends a rush of adrenaline coursing through me greater than anything I ever felt when I wasalive.
“I will do anything for you, Skyla.” My finger hooks under her chin, and I lift her to me ever so slightly. “I will move the earth, the moon—drain the world of its oceans. I will stop the wind from howling, the rain from falling from the sky. Name it. It’s already yours.” And yes, if she asked once again to stop the destruction of this place, I’d yield to even that. My finger strokes over her soft cheek, and my gut ropes off in a knot, but her gaze neverwavers.
“Whatever you do, whatever you can do—please don’t let Gage die.” A single tear rolls down her cheek, sudden andunannounced.
“Don’t let Gage die,” I repeat numbly as I sigh into the concept. Gage dying is something that can never happen, and yet Gage not dying seems like an impossiblefeat.
“It is appointed for man to die once.” The words strum from me like the lyrics to a tragic country song. “But I will stave off that hex, Skyla. I will do it for you.” I shake my head out at the toothless lanes, most of the pins already picked over and taken to new homes. I gave away everything from balls to fixtures the night of the ’80s party. Half the shoes have done a disappearing act aswell.
“Thank you.” She pulls me in and holds me with that strangled grip. “That means everything to me, Logan. Thank you from me. Thank you from my boys.” Her heated breath warms my chest. “I’msorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?” My hand rubs over her shoulder as if coaxing the answer fromher.
Skyla looks up, red railroad tracks where the whites of her eyes were. “Because I never set out to break yourheart.”
This is the part where I assure her she didn’t. She couldn’t. But I think we both know that would be alie.
“And I never set out to be an obstacle to your happiness. Don’t worry about me.” A smile ticks to my lips, dull and lifeless. “Gage lives.” I press my gaze to hers, heavy as iron. “And so does Celestra. When he entered into that covenant last December—Demetri gave aspeech.”
“Doesn’t he always,” shegrowls.
“He said something to the effect that the covenant would one day come to an end. I can’t remember the exact words, but I remember thinking this curse wouldn’t last forever. I promised myself I’d share that with you. Give you—giveushope.”
“Thank you,” she mouths the words. Skyla hikes up on her tiptoes and presses her forehead to mine, her eyes staring dizzying into me. “I hope that’s true. But nevertheless, you are never an obstacle to my happiness. You are a source of pure joy. Our beautiful, brief marriage was a shining star in my life. Its glorious light still radiates over me, fills me with its brilliance, and sets my heart on fire. Three glorious days that most people cannot find in a lifetime. We had it all, Logan.” She swallows hard. “Our love, our proposal, our wedding, our honeymoon—it was all perfect.” Her thumb wipes away a tear I didn’t know I shed. “I don’t regret a thing, and neither shouldyou.”
I shake my head in lieu ofwords.
“Looks like a ghost town in here.” Gage strides over at a decent clip, and both Skyla and I break apart like a couple of school kids caught making out in the closet. “Can anybody join, or is this a private party?” He flashes that killer grin, and I lift Skyla’s arm into the air and twirl her right over to him where shebelongs.
That bubbling laugh reprises itself. “We were just waiting for you to kick things off. What should we do? Pray over it? Steal thefixtures?”
